The potential of volunteered geographic information to investigate peri-urbanization in the conservation zone of Mexico City

Abstract

Due to the availability of Web 2.0 technologies, volunteered geographic information (VGI) is on the rise. This new type of data is available on many topics and on different scales. Thus, it has become interesting for research. This article deals with the collective potential of VGI and remote sensing to detect peri-urbanization in the conservation zone of Mexico City. On the one hand, remote sensing identifies horizontal urban expansion, and on the other hand, VGI of ecological complaints provides data about informal settlements. This enables the combination of top-down approaches (remote sensing) and bottom-up approaches (ecological complaints). Within the analysis, we identify areas of high urbanization as well as complaint densities and bring them together in a multi-scale analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Furthermore, we investigate the influence of settlement patterns and main roads on the peri-urbanization process in Mexico City using OpenStreetMap. Peri-urbanization is detected especially in the transition zone between the urban and rural (conservation) area and near main roads as well as settlements.

Leveraging the NEON Airborne Observation Platform for socio‐environmental systems research

“…Additional technological innovations provide observations of human behavior that can be paired with spatial data. Examples include volunteered geographic information data sources like community science projects (e.g., Kolstoe et al 2018), spatially explicit complaints of landuse violations (Heider et al 2018), and social media data that can be used to gather information about when and where people visit certain locations (Teles da Mota and Pickering 2020) and the value of cultural ecosystem services (Keeler et al 2015, Kolstoe et al 2018. These data can also be combined with spatial data and forecasts to estimate welfare effects based on forecasted land cover and climate change (Kolstoe et al 2018).…”

“…Given the 30-yr time horizon for NEON site measurements, there also remains ample time to design and implement collocated social surveys and future SES data collection moving forward. Twitter, cell phone data, spatially explicit complaints of land-use violations (Heider et al 2018), trip reports shared on hiking forums (Fisher et al 2018) issues are most pressing at a given site or across sites. Possible questions and applications include examining the long-term consequences of prior land use on regrowth and recovery.…”

“…Using spatially explicit LEK alongside fine resolution remote sensing data could serve as a particularly important opportunity for SES research within AOP landscapes, supporting the identification, and subsequent quantification of institutional structural decision-making in environmental change. LEK can also fill in undocumented sources of disturbance by offering additional ground-truth observations where sensors are absent, or where error and uncertainty in land-cover and landchange mapping are high (Heider et al 2018). Naturally, convergent methodologies bring with them multiple stakeholders and disciplinary traditions.…”

“…By integrating SES data with AOP data, a number of research questions can be addressed. The NEON site management and event reporting product (NEON 2021) offers a useful starting point for identifying what SES questions and Twitter, cell phone data, spatially explicit complaints of land-use violations (Heider et al 2018), trip reports shared on hiking forums (Fisher et al 2018) issues are most pressing at a given site or across sites. Possible questions and applications include examining the long-term consequences of prior land use on regrowth and recovery.…”

A conservation checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Mexico City, with comparisons with adjoining states

“…However, air pollution continued to increase despite the initial restrictions, and currently there are increased limitations on vehicle use. Spaces for new residential development within the city are fewer and the population continues to grow and demand more resources, increasing the production of waste, the emission of greenhouse gases, the number of fires, the illegal occupation of protected areas, and the depletion of available natural resources ( Santibáñez-Andrade et al 2015 ; SEMARNAT 2016 ; Heider et al 2018 ). Increased urbanization around Mexico City proper has also affected rivers and streams ( Caro-Borrero et al 2016 ).…”